1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an actuator and a camera module having the actuator.
2. Description of Related Art
With ongoing developments in microcircuitry and multimedia technology, camera modules have become widely used in a variety of consumer electronic devices, such as cell phones, notebook computers, digital cameras, and personal digital assistants, for example. A camera module includes a lens module and an image sensor. In addition, there is a growing demand for developing more camera modules with multiple functions, such as camera modules having actuators with an auto-focus function.
One type of actuator is a step motor, which is used to move the lens module along an optical axis in a camera module to achieve the auto-focus function. However, the step motor needs many transmission mechanisms, such as a driving gear and a number of slave gears to convert rotational movement of the lens module into linear movement along the optical axis. These components take up much space, thus adding to the size of the camera module.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an actuator and a camera module having the actuator, which can overcome or at least alleviate the limitations described.